A Dozen One-Shots
by Nicolette134
Summary: I don't own the real family, the book, or the movie! I'm going to try and write 12 one-shots on the family, not necessarily one for each of the kids, some will be groups(: Enjoy! Halfway to 12! Feel free to request certain characters if you want to!
1. Chapter 1

Charlie often felt like a teen father. They always used to tell you in school how hard it'll be and _Christ,_ he'd think to himself, _That's what it's like at my house all the time._  
He and Lorraine drop off the boys at preschool half the time, hence the car seats which held permanent residence in his backseat. He's constantly making meals or performing first aid, and the yard and car work are all his responsibility. Well, his and Henry's, but Henry isn't much help.  
As crazy as his life was and as much as, every once in a while, he wishes he had a moment to himself, all he need to do is look at Sarah, Jake, and Mike planning some prank, or see the twins sticking up for each other, or catch Lorraine willingly spend time with any of the other siblings and he knew he wouldn't trade his family for the world.  
They say parenting is the hardest job in the world, and the most rewarding; he couldn't agree more.


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie and Anne, Sarah and Elliot, and...Lorraine and Daniel? Everyone knows about the first two couples, but what about the last pair?

Charlie and Anne escaped the city and their parents' plans for them and both lived by the lake. They were still dating, and it was widely assumed one day they'd make it official and pop out a couple little ones of their own.

Sarah and Elliot realized that dating long distance was a bit rough for a couple of 14-year-olds, and amicably broke it off. Sarah quickly got a new boyfriend, this one a friend of Henry's instead of Jake's, much to Tom's dismay. He was older and wiser and had actually been good for Sarah, she was calming down and maturing.

Lorraine and Daniel were a different story. Dan was cute, but quiet, Lorraine was trendy and sometimes a bit brash. She scared him a little; he challenged her a lot. Challenged her to be a better person, less materialistic and judgmental. Mostly they just made out, but sometimes he'd force her into an actual conversation. Those were his favorite times, when they could actually talk.

She was brighter than she let on and more perceptive too; they talked about her family and his father and then they'd make out some more. He knew things about her nobody else did and she did things to him nobody else did. They didn't keep in touch during the school year like their siblings did; they weren't friends, not exactly. Maybe, under different circumstances, they could've been, but as it stands he's her lakeside anchor and she's his summertime breeze.


	3. Chapter 3

"Kim, Jess," yelled Sarah, "What are earth are you two doing in there? Is this your Lorraine impersonation or something?"  
Ever since the lake house that past summer Sarah tended to do a little makeup and fix up her hair before school. She was in high school now, for goodness sakes.  
The issue now was, even with Lorraine in New York, she still couldn't get a second in the bathroom. Her two younger sisters, the twins Kimberly and Jessica, had apparently also decided it was time to start with makeup and that sort of thing. And two took twice as long, if you could imagine that's possible.  
"Sarah, dude," called their brother Jake, "Come here."  
"What's up bro?" asked the older girl, who'd started putting more effort into her appearance, sure, but hadn't entirely given up her tomboyish ways.  
"I have, like, a major problem-o," confessed the skater boy.  
"What'd you do now?" asked Sarah, shocked she hadn't been in on whatever prank he was now in trouble for.  
"It's not me," he assured her, "It's Kevin."  
The girl shot him a questioning look, it wasn't like him to blame someone else for something gone awry, and Kevin wasn't the type to cause problems. Like, ever; Kevin is the nicest, most well behaved friend Jake's got.  
"What'd he do?" she asked, forgetting her fight for the bathroom in her intrigue.  
"It's not what he did, it's what he's going to do," spit out the boy, "He's gonna ask out Kim!"  
"What?" asked Sarah, happily surprised, "I didn't know Kevin liked Kim! Oh, this is great!"  
"Great? On what planet is this great?" ask the boy, "How am I supposed to have any friends if they all keep dating my sisters?!"  
"Start hanging out with uglier kids?" she offered, sarcastically, "Listen, bro, it's no big deal. Kim and Jessica definitely aren't allowed to date yet, anyway, if they were, Dad would totally ruin it for them."  
"You're no help. I'm gonna go talk to Mark," the boy shook his head in mock disgust, "And to think you used to be one of us."  
"I was always a girl!" she reminded her little brother, shaking her head before heading downstairs to start on the lunches. She could go without makeup today, her sisters would need the little extra time warranted to get ready. She smiled when the two finally came downstairs, in their barely-there makeup and coordinated outfits. With pretty girls like them on the lose Jake was going to need all the backup he could get from Mark and little Mike.


	4. Chapter 4

**Feel free to request certain characters if you want to!**

"You've changed, Sis," Jake said, poking Sarah's sleeping body.

"Yeah, Sare," Mikey agreed, "You've changed."

The younger boy jumped onto his sister's bed in an effort to wake her a was rewarded with a backhand to the face, an automatic response, unintentional and definitely not meant to hurt him.

"Sorry booger," she said, patting the boy's head as she yawned and stretched.

"Come watch cartoons," Mike suggested, bouncing on the bed with little regard to his sister's actual body being underneath him.

"Let's go to the skate park," Jake interjected, "I have this cool new trick to show you."

"Guys, I was out late last night," Sarah muttered, rubbing her face and smearing around mascara and eyeliner.

"Yeah, we noticed," Jake said.

"Dad's pissed," Mike nodded somberly.

"Language," Sarah said, shocked. She knew she had sworn like a sailor at his age, but that didn't mean he could do it in front of her. He was her baby brother for goodness' sake. Well, one of them at least.

"Pissed isn't a bad word," Mike argued, "Dad says it all the time."

"Do as your told, not as you see," Sarah replied, but Jake only rolled his eyes.

"Remember back when Mom and Dad and Nora and Charlie and Lorraine used to say that to you?" he asked his sister, "And you _hated_ it. Now you're just like them."

"You changed," Mike repeated.

"All I did was grow up!" Sarah exclaimed defensively, although she _was_ starting to sound a bit like Lorraine.

"I wish you didn't," Jake said, slamming the door behind him as he and their other brother left the room.

Sarah half wanted to cry, half wanted to hit them. Instead, she headed across the hall and crawled into bed with Lorraine; she'd been just as harsh, if not harsher, to her older sister when she'd made the transition from child to young adult, and she was starting to understand where all the hostility had come from between the two. Luckily, she also knew that, eventually, they'd make up.


	5. Chapter 5

**Feel free to request certain characters if you want to!**

Nora and Bud and baby Tom were very happy in their little apartment, just the three of them. Of course, just the three of them weren't many people and Nora was used to a _lot _of people being at her house. She was used to being surrounded by people all day, everyday, and, frankly, just her, her husband, and a baby weren't cutting it.

It started with the sink. The faucet was leaky or something, and Bud couldn't fix it so she called Charlie. Charlie came, but he had the twins with him, so then Lorraine came to pick up the younger boys and ended up staying for dinner.

Well Lorraine was a great chef, and Nora wasn't exactly, so her lovely fashionista sister had an open invitation to come cook dinner whenever she wanted. She also needed access to the apartment in case of an emergency, or if she was babysitting or something, so Nora made her a copy of the keys. Charlie and her parents already had their own sets.

When Lorraine got _her_ own key, Sarah felt like she should too, because she did just as much babysitting as her older sister. It _was_ only fair, so Nora made another copy. Then Henry felt left out, so he got one too, and, well, nobody ever went anywhere without at least a couple of the youngsters tagging along, so soon the house was fill most days with her family members coming in and out.

It might drive Bud just the _teensiest_ bit crazy, but Nora wouldn't have it any other way.


	6. Chapter 6

**Feel free to request certain characters if you want to!**

"Where's your brother, the big bad farmer?" asked the jock that always teased Lorraine and her brother, appearing in the door frame of her home ec class.

"Get away from me," she said, trying to squeeze past him, out of the classroom.

"What's this?" he asked, pulling the bundle of fabric out of her hands and holding it over his head, and high over hers.

"It's a skirt, for my sister, okay?" Lorraine answered, jumping to grab at it, "Now give it back."

"Let me see it on ya," he pestered, keeping the cloth up high and grabbing onto her with his free arm.

Her feet were at least a foot off of the ground and her eyes were level with his. He looked like he was going to do something crazy, like, like, _kiss_ her.

"Put me down. Now," she said, firmly.

He looked at her for a long moment, and then he did.


End file.
